Thermolabile products such as blood, platelets, tissue or plasma define a resource which must be husbanded very carefully especially in an era where the demand for blood increases as the population grows but the source of blood becomes more suspect with the continuing discovery of increasingly prevalent blood-transferable diseases.
Other thermolabile pharmaceutical products like antibiotics are also a valuable resource which must be carefully guided through all temperature ranges so that the rated potency is maintained.
For instance, a typical operatory scenario involves some forecasting on the volume of blood to be required during a surgical procedure, but there is a tendency to be conservative in the estimation of total units of blood or plasma required due to the above-noted market pressures. This sometimes leads to shortages during an operation. Moreover, events may transpire during the course of surgery which dictate an immediate need for additional blood supplies which either can not be contemplated at the initiation of the surgery or, for example, occur as the result of emergency procedures.
Heretofore, pouches within which frozen blood or plasma has been stored are placed within a pan having warm water. The pan is supported on an instrumentality which allows the pan to rock back and forth to aid in the circulation of the water over the pouch to increase the rate at which thawing occurs. At a later stage in the thawing process, personnel will manually knead the pouch to accelerate the thawing process.
Several difficulties attend the current state of the art technique. For one thing, some pouches, especially during the freezing process may be cracked so that upon thawing, the tray, water and attendant who kneads the pouch may become contaminated with the blood should the pouch break. The corollary to such a fracture is that the entire area exposed to the blood has now been contaminated. The cleanup process may conflict with the exigencies of the surgical necessity, providing a risk which is needless when one embraces the technology of the instant invention.
A further inefficiency associated with the known prior art involves the actual heat transfer mechanism itself. When contrasted with the instant invention, the process is relatively slow and does not provide the controlled environment that attends the instant invention for optimal regulation of the thawing process especially as it changes phase from solid to liquid and involves minimizing hot spots. It must be borne in mind that these transfusable fluids are thermolabile and therefore deteriorate rapidly in the presence of unwanted temperature profiles. Thus, the water placed in the tray may induce deleterious localized heating of the fluid thereby lowering the quality of the blood, platelets, plasma etc. which is ultimately utilized.
A further difficulty that the instant invention solves is that the time-frame during which the surgeon must decide on the need for potential transfusable fluid will have changed when utilizing the instant invention. Stated alternatively, the instant invention thaws the blood or plasma in a shorter amount of time.
The following patents reflect the state of the art of which applicant is aware insofar as these patents appear germane to the patent process. However, it is respectfully stipulated that none of these patents teach singly nor render obvious when considered in any conceivable combination the nexus of the instant invention as set forth hereinafter.
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